1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an auxiliary step for mounting on a pickup truck (or other applicable vehicle) to assist in entry into the truck bed.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Many of today's vehicles are relatively large with high ground clearances which often makes entering or exiting quite difficult. Some manufacturers include in the design of their vehicle a built-in step intermediate the ground and the floor of the vehicle for facilitating access into the passenger compartments, but few provide a step for safely reaching the roof rack on top of SUVs, RVs, and campers, for instance, or for climbing into the cargo bed of pickup trucks and flatbed trucks, step-bumpers (which are usually too high) notwithstanding. The problem has given rise to a number of auxiliary step inventions to fill the need.
Auxiliary steps have been attached to their vehicle in a number of ways. Some attach a step to the front or back bumper; McCrea, U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,719, Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,447, and Mueller, U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,842, are representative. Some fix an auxiliary step to the side frame of their vehicle; see Stecker, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,093, Graves et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,293, Bundy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,475, and Bundy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,125.
The instant invention is directed primarily to an auxiliary step for assisting entry into and exit from the back of pickup trucks, although its applicability to other types of vehicles is readily apparent. Prior patents featuring pickup truck auxiliary steps include Dick, U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,475, Maxwell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,843, Schlicht, U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,086, Varney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,588, Erickson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,086, Cipolla, U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,704, and Mitchell, U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,692. All of these except Varney et al. and Mitchell connect their step by inserting a step support bar into the square receiver tube of the conventional receiver type trailer hitch. While effective for their purposes, they all require removal of the step in order to insert a draw bar for pulling a trailer. Varney et al. clamp their step onto the crossbar of the aforesaid receiver type trailer hitch; it is a complicated assembly which will either interfere with any trailer attached to the pickup truck or will be inaccessible when the tailgate of the pickup is lowered. Mitchell attaches a step to the ball hitch of the drawbar; while it does not interfere with a trailer being towed, it is always centrally located behind the truck and is rendered inaccessible by the lowering of the tailgate.
Dick, Maxwell et al., Schlicht, Varney et al., and Cipolla include limited linear adjustments in an attempt to provide a means for adapting their steps to specific trucks, and Dick, Maxwell et al., Schlicht, and Varney et al. pivot their steps for storage, but none of them disclose a mechanism for universal adjustment to tailor their steps to individual vehicles.